


A Former Shade of Blue

by F-117 Nighthawk (F117_Nighthawk)



Series: Dark Matter [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Keith (Voltron) Backstory, blade of marmora, but mostly Keith's mom, chock full of headcanons, focus on keith's mom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-14 04:24:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11775441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/F117_Nighthawk/pseuds/F-117%20Nighthawk
Summary: The Blue Paladin crash-lands on Earth after Alfor sends the Lions away and is trapped in her healing pod for ten-thousand Altean years. When she wakes, she must come to terms with the Galra Empire.This was started before season three was released. You can take the three generations of paladins headcanon from my cold dead hands.Edit post-s5: This now contains one small (well, large if you understand the implications) spoiler for season five.





	1. Wake

**Author's Note:**

> Heyoooo this is _full_ of headcanons.  
>  This fic relies heavily on two of headcanons for the lions. One is that the lions have names that change depending on their Paladin. Blue is Illuin in this fic as that's 'blue' in Galran (okay it's all-blue in Quenya but I can't resist) and when Lance becomes her paladin she's Azul as that's 'blue' in Spanish. The second one is that through their connection with the lions (and Allura the castle) the Paladins are able to understand and speak all alien languages and the lions tend to translate names as whatever the paladins interpret the thing possessing the name as. So when they first see Blue they think "that is a lion", which causes hiccups later because, well, the word for 'spirit' just got translated as lion.  
> Also for more info on my ideas on the Lion-Paladin bond, [here](https://f-117-nighthawk.tumblr.com/post/164524498500/so-im-posting-some-voltron-fics-currentlysoon)

“You need to _jump.”_

“No! I am not leaving you! Sir! _Alfor!”_ The Blue Paladin watched the Red Paladin dive and dodge, but kept position in front of the castle.  

“Allura’s gone! You need to _leave. Get out of here_ before he finds Sev!”

“Pamola’s right, Milord, we can still fight!” She could feel the Yellow Paladin, unnaturally feisty, wanting to protect their commander.

“That is an _order!_ We cannot beat him!”

“With all due respect, Sir-” she started, but the King of Altea cut her off.

“Spirits! _Get them out of here.”_

**Paladin, we need to leave.**

“No, no no no, Vosa, come on, please-”

She was cut off as a drone that they both missed slammed into Vosa’s side, sending them both hurtling through the open portal. She heard a shout that might have been her name and then everything went black.

* * *

She woke to a freezing world.

**Paladin. You are alive.**

She fell back into blackness.

* * *

She woke again and found herself on the floor of Vosa’s main hold. With a groan she rolled onto her back and blinked frozen eyes up at the ceiling. **Vosa?**

**I am here.**

She turned her head to look around. There was something red, so deep it was almost black, on the floor. It was dried and stained, like it had been there for years. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, wincing at the way her arms protested. The floor was littered with medpacks and rations, the webbing that had held them in place tattered and frayed on the walls. **How long-?**

**You don’t want to know.**

She glared at one wall and crawled to the nearest ration. She ripped it open and shoved it in her mouth. Food goo was still food goo, no matter how old it was. **How long, Vosa.**

The water spirit purred in her mind, almost a “sorry for what I’m about to say.” **About ten thousand Altean years.**

She choked on food goo and her ears flattened, tail curling up. “What?” her voice was raspy with disuse. _Ten thousand years_ of disuse.

**You were injured after we crashed here. I managed to guide you to the mobile cryopod, but after it started something malfunctioned and I was unable to get you out until now. My self-healing programs are corrupted.**

“No, no no no, Vosa, _it can't be ten thousand years._ Your clock must be broken.”

**It has been five thousand of this world years. I calculate that they are about double altean years.**

She slumped over, food goo forgotten on the ground. “No....” she sobbed. She'd been in cryostasis for ten thousand years. No one had come searching for her, no one had contacted Vosa for ten thousand years. What had happened after she lost consciousness? How had they ended up on a dust-ball of a planet where even Zarkon wouldn't come looking for them? **The others...**

**I cannot sense the others. The rock around us may be interfering with my signal, but even so I cannot sense any of them.**

“Not even Pamola?”

**I picked up a few transmissions before we crashed and I had to take the long range sensors offline to avoid Zarkon tracking us. Pamola fought to the bitter end against Lord Alfor’s wishes. Caran was captured by the Empire. I do not know what happened to the rest.**

Vosa let her cry, attempting to comfort her with a warm, consoling purr.

* * *

**There, self-cleaning’s back up and running. Better?**

Vosa mewled, a happy, relieved thing. **Much. A pity you couldn’t fix the self-healing, though.**

“How much rock are we under?” she wondered. At this point she was alternating between speaking just to hear something, and desperate silence.

**A hundred tickets approximately.**

She moved away from the cockpit control panel and slid down the ladder to Vosa’s main bay. She picked up her discarded armor and slowly slipped back into the black, purple, and blue plates.

“Any natives?”

**Only one species considered sentient by universal standards. They created murals of some sort when they found me. I think they believe me magic?**

She snorted. “All primitive species do.” Armor on, she shoved some rations and medpacks into a bag and slung it over her shoulder.  She patted her belt, making sure her Blade and bayard were in their holsters. “I'm going exploring.”

**Be careful.**

“Since when am I not?”

Vosa sent an eye roll, but obligingly opened her mouth to let her out.

She stepped out into a cave. It was covered in markings that looked like Vosa. Wandering through the tunnels was not the best idea, but she knew of no other way of getting to the surface as using Vosa would draw too much attention. She had no idea what the species of this planet were like, drawing attention to herself would either brand her a goddess or get her killed. Neither option seemed appealing. So she wandered the tunnels, following the stream of murals.

The paintings on the wall seemed to be mostly of Vosa. They featured the Water Spirit roaring at creatures. The most prominent were bipedal creatures holding spears and weapons; she took them to be the sentient species of the planet. Others were four-legged with horns and looked vaguely like Velr’akirs. Every picture glowed blue as she ran her hand along them.

**How did they manage to have these glow?**

**They have only ever glowed in response to you. I believe it is a reaction between your quintessence and the materiel used in the paintings.**

She froze as a noise echoed down the tunnel. Her hand drifted down to her bayard.

“What the hell, there's no light down here. I've been down a million times.”

**Vosa. Scan it.**

**Merely a member of the sentient species. They call themselves humans.**

The voice came again, accompanied by footsteps. “Alright, start recording Three-Four-Three. I'm going down the tunnels again to take pictures, but this time they're glowing. I think it's the whole way down the tunnel. Every single one. They're glowing blue. How the hell are they doing that? I've been down here at all times of day, hell, I've stayed down here for a week, and they've never done this before.” The footsteps were slowly getting closer. She tensed, hand not holding her bayard drifting to her Blade.

When she could hear the feet just around the corner, she drew her Blade, extended her bayard, and stepped around the corner. “Freeze. Who are you?”

The human stopped mid-step. It had black hair pulled back out of its face, tanned skin, and seemed to be made of pure muscle mass. Grey eyes widened to rival dinner plates when it saw her. “What the hell,” it breathed, before collapsing.

Her eyes widened and her ears swiveled in surprise. “Duka. Uh, Vosa, what did I do?”

**I believe he fainted? Bear in mind, he is the first one to see you, and I do not believe that they have any contact with the Empire or the Alliance.**

“What do I do? He'll come back around, right?”

**Yes. It might be helpful to move him out of the tunnel, though.**

She sheathed her weapons and hoisted the human onto her shoulder. He was significantly shorter than her and easily carryable. She made it out to open skies without incident.

When she reached the surface she felt a sudden wave of longing, tail drooping with mournfulness. She leaned the human against a rock and sat down across from him. _If it weren't so red, it could almost be home._ She missed her home. It was so unlikely that she was ever going to see it again. She took her helmet off, just to feel the air.

She forcefully turned her thoughts away from her home and stared at the human. Hopefully he wouldn't take too long to wake up.

Her wish was granted several minutes later when he started stirring. He blinked open grey eyes and stared at her. “What the fuck.”

“Who are you?”

“Uhhhh,” he continued to stare at her, seemingly dumbfounded. Suddenly he blurted out, “Are you an alien? Actually wait, no, please tell me I just got way too drunk and started hallucinating. That is the only explanation for this.”

She blinked at him. “While I do not know if you are “drunk,” you are not hallucinating. I am an alien.”

“Ohhhh god, oh god oh god. No one is ever going to believe me are they.” He squeezed his beautiful eyes shut- wait, when had her internal monologue started calling him beautiful?

She could _feel_ Vosa snickering.

“How do I prove you're an alien?” he said, opening his eyes again and leaning forward.

“What?”

“How. Do I. Prove. That you. Are an alien? And how are you speaking English?”

“I speak whatever language whoever I'm talking to speaks. One virtue of being a Paladin.”

“Is that your species name?”

“Uhm, no, that is my occupation. I am a Galra. And if you want to prove I am an alien, my ears and tail are very real.”

“What's a Paladin? How do you speak my language? What do I call you?”

“Krolia.”

“Krolia.” He rolled her name over his tongue, testing it out. “I'm Ryan.”

“Hello, Ryan,” Krolia told him, “Do you want to see how I speak English?”

* * *

 

That conversation turned out to be a fateful meeting. Ryan found her parts to help fix Vosa and helped her out as best he could. While they worked, he told her all about Earth and his life. He had been a member of something called the “Galaxy Garrison,” which was a military school for pilots. Ryan had taught there for some time, a course on the history of piloting and ancient attempts to build spaceships. He even taught about conspiracy theories that said that many of Earth’s great landmarks were created by aliens. (She doubted that was true and Vosa told her as much. No aliens had landed on Earth since they crashed, and all the monuments were dated after their crash. Except for Stonehenge, she couldn’t disprove that one.) He had believed that aliens had at least visited Earth before, and had been kicked out of the Garrison for being just a _little_ too confident in his theories.

Because of his alien conspiracies, Ryan was also an amateur archaeologist. Thus, after he was kicked out, he dedicated his time to investigating the nearest place suspected of alien life. And, low and behold, Krolia had appeared not an Earth-year into his investigations. When the initial shock had worn off, he had been ecstatic: “Haha! I have something to shove in those asshole’s faces! Look at me _NOW_ motherfuckers! A cat-lady alien!”

She had taken one look at his face and been overcome with the urge to kiss him.

When she wasn’t asking questions, he was. One time, she pulled her Blade out to scare away a group of nosy, drunk out of their minds space cadets who Ryan told her were likely to be expelled soon anyway. Once they left, tails between their legs, he asked her about it.

“It’s a family tradition. Every child of the House of Marmora gets a Marthuzitok Blade. The blades are connected to our quintessence, our life force. Only a Marmoran can awaken the Blade to its full form, doing so is a rite of passage. One must awaken their blade before they become a warrior.” She paused in her explanation, gazing at Vosa’s side, ears flattening. “We were warriors of the highest caliber. We stood for the honor of the Galra. And then the head of the house turned against us. Against my entire species.”

Ryan stopped working and walked over, reaching up to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. “He can’t possibly be alive after all this time. You said the only reason you’re alive is that you were in cryostasis.”

Krolia placed one hand over his. “I know. The disgrace cannot possibly be alive after all this time. Yet, sometimes I still wonder...”

He turned her face to meet his and kissed her, driving all her worries away.

* * *

A year after they found each other, little Keith was born. His violet eyes lit upon his parents, and a smile graced his lips. Krolia ran a hand through his hair, finding little pointy ears. “He looks like you,” she told Ryan, “with just a hint of his Galra heritage.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not posting the next chapter until I make it to page 150 of Crime and Punishment. Gotta reward myself for actually finishing the AP Lit summer assignment and I mean, hey, now I have motivation to.
> 
> My guess is either tomorrow or Saturday, depending on if I put off this part by finishing the analysis.


	2. End of Bliss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Galran Empire picks up a hint of Vosa's signal........

Years passed in bliss. There were bits of Vosa that Earth did not have the materials for her to fix. Parts of the Spirit’s code were corrupted beyond either of their abilities to repair. Krolia assumed that the layers and layers that Vosa stayed under would hide her from prying Empire ships. So Vosa stayed where she had crashed, communicating when she could. They rebuilt the shack in the desert so it could fit their little family of three. Ryan taught Keith letters and numbers, taught him astrophysics and English. Krolia taught him a little hand-to-hand, told him about his Galran heritage, his Marmoran heritage. Keith thrived, living for his mom’s hand carding through his hair, his dad sweeping him up in a hug.

There was always a little worry in the back of Krolia’s mind, that eventually the Empire would find her. She and Vosa regularly scanned all open frequencies, listening for Empire chatter. Most of the time, nothing would come up. During scanning they confirmed that the Fire Spirit had been captured, that the Castle of Lions had disappeared, along with the Air Spirit and Allura, and that the Ground and Nature Spirits had vanished at the same time as her. The Empire was still actively searching for the Voltron Spirits, but they were well hidden.

So she was surprised when, during a quiet night cuddling on the couch as Ryan was reading Keith a book, Vosa poked urgently at her mind.

**I am picking up Galran transmissions.**

She frowned. **What?**

**I believe they’ve found me. My elemental signature must have permeated through the rock.**

Krolia sat up straight. Ryan looked at her, but she ignored him, focusing on the Spirit. **Vosa, spell it out for me.**

**One Zanrik-class corvette, inbound in T minus 9 dobashes. Communicating back to the Empire that it picked up a “signature much like the Fire Spirit gives off” here. Coordinates are my location.**

None of that sounded good. A _Zanrik_ meant a contingent of drones and fighters. Not five hundred, assuming the ship hadn’t changed in the past ten thousand years, but much more than twenty.

She turned to Ryan. “We need to go. Now.”

A look of confusion crossed his face. “Why?”

“Vosa’s picking up Galran transmissions. There’s a corvette on its way. Thirty minutes.”

His eyes widened. “Quiznak. Okay, I’ll pack up food and medpacks. Can you take Keith?”

Purple eyes widened. “Sasa? What’s going on?”

Krolia picked Keith up off Ryan’s lap. “There are some bad people coming that want Vosa. You remember Sasa’s lion friend? We need to leave home for a couple days so they don’t find us. I need you to pack up your stuff, okay, Keithy baby?”

“Okay, Sasa,” Keith toddled into his room as fast as his short five-year-old legs would take him.

They didn’t make it out of the house in time. A Galran landing craft whooshed down in the dark just outside the house. Their path was blocked.

Her ears flattened back. “Quiznack.” Krolia scanned the area outside the house with her helmet. Her best estimate of their numbers were thirty Imperial troopers and fifty drones. **Vosa, can you get out?**

**Doubtful.**

She fiddled with her gauntlets, activating the holoscreen with Vosa’s diagnostics. The Spirit’s code was still repairing, the corrupted self-healing commands doing their best. She didn’t have full control of her engines herself, and wouldn’t be able to fly without Krolia there.

She drew her Blade and turned to Ryan, who was crouched behind the table, Keith held against him. She slid it across the floor to him. “Take this,” she said, “I’m going to see if I can break through to Vosa.”

“But, Krolia-”

“Vosa’s still not fully fixed; she won’t be able to come get us without me piloting.”

“You don’t have a weapon, though.”

She smirked, bayard materializing in her hand. “Yes I do. I’ll be careful, I promise.”

Ryan sighed, but blew her a kiss.

She blew one back, and blew one to Keith, before sealing her helmet and slowly opening the door.

Krolia crept out into the night, making for the hoverbike parked next to the house. She stayed low and close to the house, staying out of the Imperials’ sight. She accidentally kicked a rock just before she reached the bike, sending it flying against the bike with an eerily loud “kink”.

“What was that?” one of the Imperials said, whirling around to face her. She sent caution to the wind and sprinted for the hoverbike, holographic shield materializing from her right gauntlet. “There! The Paladin!”

Krolia flung a leg over the bike and extended her bayard, whipping the disk at the nearest sentry with enough force to slice its head clean off and bounce back to her from the trooper behind it. She revved the engine and caught her bayard. The bike roared to life and she bowled over the nearest trooper and smashed another in the face before heading for Vosa’s cave.

“Follow the Paladin!”

She smirked under her helmet. Everything was according to plan. Krolia twisted around to look behind her. Several speeders were following her into the darkness of the canyons, but she couldn’t tell if it was all of them. She would just have to hope. She swerved left into a path she knew fed back into main canyon after several sharp turns that would be impossible for anyone less than a Galra. That included the Imperial drones.

Krolia swerved the bike around a tight turn and heard one of the drones crash into the wall. Weaving through the rocks in the canyon with a feral smile she pushed the bike faster and faster. She skidded around a left and two rights, shooting back into the main canyon with a whoop.

A laser blast hit the wall just to her left. She took a quick look behind her at the Imperial troopers still on her tail. They were steadily falling behind, and she couldn’t have that. She was supposed to be drawing them away from her family. She growled and smashed the breaks, completely stopping her bike and two Imperial troopers sped past with surprised looks. She stuck her shield in the way of another as it attempted to slow and sent him flying. She revved the engine again and threw her shield at one trooper in front of her. It pushed the one off his speeder, ricocheted off the wall and hit the other, then boomeranged back to her hand.

Blasts hit the wall on either side of her as she swerved to head up a ramp that ended in a steep cliff. Teeth bared she floored the accelerator and flew off the cliff, several Imperial troopers following her. She waited until the last second before pulling the bike up and turning in the direction of Vosa’s cave. One of the troopers crashed into the ground, but the rest succeeded in following her after a much wider turn.

Krolia growled as she saw the hole in the wall of the canyon that led down to Vosa. She swerved the bike to a stop by the opening. Jumping off the bike, she threw her bayard at the nearest trooper and dashed down the tunnel. The disk knocked one off trooper off his bike, smashed another’s head in, ricocheted off another and bounced into the tunnel where she caught it. Panting, she ran through the twists and turns of the tunnel, hoping to get the Imperials off her tail. The markings in the wall were glowing, however, which hindered her efforts. As she stumbled into the room where Vosa sat she heard them approaching her.

Vosa opened her mouth and growled, a deep, rumbling noise that shook the rock around them. She scampered up through the cargo bay and the refresher into the cockpit. The chair slid forward and Vosa’s displays lit up in calming blue. “Scan the mountain, girl. Get me numbers.” Her fingers flew over keyboards, booting up weapons systems and engines, powering the tail cannon and setting up the shoulder cannon.

**Five troopers in the mountain. Forty troopers and eighty droids spread between here and the house.**

Panic welled up in her. That was _double_ what she had estimated before leaving. How many had stayed by the house? Had they found Ryan and Keith? Were they alright? Were they still hiding? Did Ryan even know how to use a knife? Oh Quiznak, she should have considered that before giving him the knife.

A soothing wave washed over her. **What’s done is done. All you can do is help them.**

Right. Okay. She could do this.

The five Galra ran into the room as Vosa finished powering up. With a roar Krolia slammed the firing controls and a beam of ice froze the troopers to death. She pushed the control levers forward, and Vosa bounded out through the tunnels.

They soared out into the night air, bounding up the cliff and into the main canyon. There was another platoon of Imperials heading down the canyon. Growling, she activated the shoulder cannon and blasted the middle of them. Half of them vaporized instantly, a few swerved into the walls. The remaining looked with wide eyes as Vosa crashed down on top of them, crushing them.

Another platoon was guarding the other end of the canyon. They scrambled onto their speeders and took potshots at them, but Vosa was too heavily armored for the speeders’ cannons to do anything. Krolia’s hands flew across the controls, retracting the shoulder cannon to let it charge and giving Vosa control of the tail. She whipped it around as they bounded down the canyon, killing the third platoon.

They ran out into the open desert near the shack to a horrifying sight. The Imperials had found Ryan and Keith. The two humans were being held at gunpoint on their knees by the house. Keith was crying uncontrollably, scared out of his mind. Ryan was attempting to calm him, but failing miserably without being able to touch him.

“Blue Paladin! Surrender the Water Spirit, or these two will die!”

She was frozen. She couldn’t move as Vosa’s anger poured into her mind, mixing with her own until all there was was _anger._ Anger at themself for leaving them there, anger at the Imperials for capturing them, anger at Ryan for letting them get captured, anger at themself for not being faster, anger at themself for thinking they could escape. The Empire _always_ won. It had killed Allura and Alfor, it had killed Tannin and Pamola and Wuluw and here they were about to kill their family and _they couldn’t do quiznak._

Well..... maybe they could.

They slid the pilot chair back and exited the cockpit, climbing down into the hold. They grabbed their bayard and extended it out to the shield. They didn’t hesitate as they opened their mouth and walked out into the desert. “Let them go,” they growled, the Galran easily flowing off their tongue. They would have used their sonic abilities to take them all out once, but they didn't want to hurt Keith's ears. 

“Not until we have the Spirit,” the leader barked back.

“Only when you let them go.” Their shoulder cannon was charged again.

“Well then I guess we’re at a stalemate.” The Imperial leader moved so he was standing in front of Ryan. “Surrender the Spirit or this one dies.”

Seemingly sensing the intent behind the words, Ryan yelled: “Krolia, don’t give him what he wants! You said Vosa’s the only thing capable of holding Zarkon back, don’t give her to them!”

They growled, a low warning to Ryan to _shut up, please, you’re going to get yourself killed,_ and extended the shoulder cannon. “If you hurt him you’ll die.”

There was a tense tick before all hell broke loose. They shot the shoulder cannon at the largest group of Imperials, vaporizing thirty of them, and ran at the leader, throwing their shield with their whole body weight. They kicked the knees out from the closest droid and slammed a fist into another as the shield ricocheted off the wall into the leader’s face and came back to them. They caught the shield and used it to block a series of shots from the right before slamming it forward with a forearm and sending a trooper sprawling. They took care of the Imperials further away with the tail cannon as they sliced through a droid with the edge of the shield. They unpinned a grenade and threw a trooper at a few droids as they ran, slamming into Imperials with the shield. They froze a trooper that got too close to their back and jumped, kicking at one droid while smashing another with the shield. They blocked shots from three droids before throwing the shield with a spin and using the momentum to bowl another one down. The shield crashed through the three droids, boomeranged around to hit the frozen trooper, then ricocheted back to their hands.They shot three droids that were running away, threw the shield at two more, and punched another.

They froze and almost missed catching the shield as they saw the scene against the side of the house. Ryan was leaning against the house, bleeding from wounds in his shoulder and leg, eyes wide with fear. The Imperial commander was staring in shock at his arm, which was lying on the ground still holding his gun. Keith was standing in front of Ryan, holding the Marthuzitok Blade in its awakened form, yelling at the leader in a broken mixture of Galran and English. “Don’t hurt Daddy! Don’t make Sasa angry and don’t take Vosa!” He then clumsily thrust the sword forward and succeeded in stabbing the commander up through his stomach into his heart.

“KEITH!” they yelled, dashing forward and shooting the last few remaining droids with the tail cannon. The Imperial leader choked on blood and fell to his knees. They pushed him out of the way and kneeled in front of Keith. They gently took the Blade from his hands and pulled him into a hug.

The shock of seeing her son wielding the Blade suddenly slammed Krolia back into herself. “Keith, kitokva, are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

He shook his head into her chest and wrapped his arms around her. “Daddy.”

Krolia looked to Ryan. She became increasingly more worried as she took in his injuries. Gathering Keith up in her arms, she carried him the short distance so she could kneel next to Ryan. She reached out her arm that didn’t have the shield and grabbed his hand.

He sent her a sad smile. “I took a shot meant for him.”

She squeezed his hand. “Hey, you’ll be okay. I can get you to Vosa’s healing pod-”

“No-” he started coughing, blood coming up and spattering his chin. “No. The one in my leg hit an artery, and the other’s in my lung. I don’t think even your magic healing pod can save a human from the brink of death.”

“No, no no no, it can, please, just hang on, Ryan.” Her eyes were watering, threatening to spill over.

“You fight like Captain America,” he rasped a laugh, “with your shield, and motorbike. Only difference is you’ve got a giant Lion backing you up, instead of the Avengers.”

“Does that make you my Bucky?” she teased, hoping to keep him talking.

He smiled and coughed again. “Love you, Krolia. Thanks for making my dreams come true.”

“Ryan, Ryan, talk to me, please, Ryan!”

He didn’t answer her ever again.

She gently placed his hand on the ground. She curled in a protective ball around Keith, who was crying into her shoulder, and sobbed.

* * *

Vosa dug a hole in the ground where Krolia dumped the Imperials, but not before taking every weapon off them and placing it in the landing craft. She would have burned them as tradition wanted, but she couldn’t risk someone seeing the smoke plume. She found just enough kindling to burn Ryan. He burned under the night sky he so loved, his being rejoining with stardust to power the universe again.

Keith had sobbed himself to sleep in her arms, and was currently lying in Vosa’s cargohold with all the blankets from the house. She couldn’t bear to go back in. It was easier to keep an eye on him if he was in Vosa anyway.

She went through the records in the Imperial landing craft. Apparently, Zarkon had been ruling the universe for ten thousand years. He had been actively searching for Voltron the entire time, with Honerva helping him. There was a slowly growing pool of anger in her emotions, which she thought she would never be able to get rid of. She needed off this world, but she also needed Keith to be safe.

Trudging off the landing craft, she walked into Vosa. They flew back to the cave in silence.

 **I need to leave, but I don’t think taking you is a good idea. A Galra pilot of Voltron would not be welcome with the current state of the universe,** she thought once Vosa was settled back in the cave.

Vosa seemed to recognize this. She sent a wave of reassurance to her. **Take the landing craft, and do not worry about me. There is someone else on this planet with suitable quintessence. His is perhaps even more of a match than yours.**

There was a vision of a young boy with tanned skin, somewhere around Keith’s age. He was chasing after a girl who looked like him, yelling about spaceships and aliens. In the enhanced vision, the boy was glowing a beautiful deep blue, the color of Earth’s ocean, with a swirl of bright red twisting around him.

Krolia felt content to leave Vosa there. There was a Paladin here, and she felt certain that he would find his way to the Spirit. She lifted her bayard off her belt and left it on the console before walking out of Vosa’s cockpit and down to her cargobay.

There was still someone left to attend to before she could leave.

**I don’t know what to do.**

Vosa purred in her mind. **You could take him with you, but war is no place for a child. There is a military base nearby on this planet you could leave him at, but that would mean leaving him behind. Do what you think is best.**

She sat next to her son on the mass of blankets. She carded her hand through his hair, tickling his tiny pointed ears and brushing her thumb against his forehead. His face was scrunched up with bad memories and nightmares, with the blood on his too young hands. Her heart broke when he whimpered against her leg. “I can’t leave him,” she sobbed, “but I can’t take him either.”

Vosa was just as torn as her. **He will have a peaceful life here.**

“But will he though? I- I can’t just leave him, Vosa.”

**This planet has a system for taking care of children without parents. If you leave him at the military base, they will find him loving and caring parents. War is no place for a child, Paladin.**

She sniffed. Vosa was right, she knew, but that didn’t make this any harder. Krolia picked up the backpack of Keith’s stuff that had been packed before the Imperial attack. She slipped one of the markers out of the small pocket and wrote “Keith” on it. Hesitating a moment, she took her Blade out and slipped it into the backpack. She felt a questioning purr from Vosa, but ignored it. Slinging the backpack on, she leaned down and picked up her son, blankets and all. She walked out of Vosa’s open mouth for the last time.

She looked up at the Spirit’s head. Without looking back again, she stepped into the tunnel. Krolia walked slowly as to not wake the bundle in her arms. She stepped out into the predawn twilight. The desert was red like the blood that coated it. She swung a leg over the hoverbike and it rumbled to life.

Hesitating, she felt for Vosa in her mind. **Goodbye, Vosa.**

Vosa gave her one final reassuring purr. **Goodbye, cub.**

The Water Spirit cut the connection.

Careful not to wake Keith, Krolia sped off for the Galaxy Garrison.

The ride was a blur, most of it spent looking down at her son, memorizing his every feature. When she got to Garrison, she placed Keith just outside the security barrier. She slung the backpack down next to him, and got back on the hoverbike. Looking down at him, she murmured an old Marmoran blessing. “May you always have a sharp sword, may you always have a wise tongue. May you always have your honor, may you always know the truth. May the hand of a friend always be near, and may the gods protect you.”

Then she purposefully tripped a wire with a rock, and sped away before she could change her mind.

* * *

Vosa settled in for a long wait. She shut down most of her systems, letting the self-healing programs do their work. She would be healed by the time he found her. Her new Paladin was still young, not quite ready yet to find her. But he would find her when he was ready. His quintessence was too similar to her own for him to not be drawn to her eventually. She could be patient and wait. So Vosa would wait until she would become Azul. He would come.

As would, she suspected, little Keith. She had not told Krolia, but his quintessence was a perfect match for the Fire Spirit. There were three more on the planet, matches for the Ground, the Nature, and the Air Spirits. The new generation of Paladins were all on this planet, and it would be her job to bring them to their Spirits.

Or Lions, as they called them. The translation was a little weird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it turns out you got this today! I'm on page 156 and _this book can burn in hell._ Last chapter when i get to page 300 of Crime and Punishment, and then when I _finish_ I've got another fic which is currently titled The Cheese Ball on my AO3 draft and HIPPOOOOO on the doc. So you've got that to look forward to.  
>  Feel free to yell at me to finish CP wherever you can find me.


	3. An End and a Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Krolia crashes her way out of Earth's solar system.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHAT IM DONE CRIME AND PUNISHMET HARD PARTS OVER WOOOOOOO  
> HAVE THIS TO CELEBRATE WHILE I WRITE SOME HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, KEITH ANGST TO CELEBRATE

“Landing craft Juliet-Kilo, where have you been?”

“I’m the only one left. The Paladin killed the rest of us, even the pilot. I don’t know how she was still alive. I can’t send you an authorization code because I’m not technically a pilot and I’m kinda bleeding and would really love some medical attention.”

“Where is the Paladin now?”

“Uhm, dead.”

“And the Spirit?”

“Deactivated down on the planet. I have no idea what half the buttons do and didn’t want to risk blowing it up trying to attach it to the ship.”

The Imperial commander growled. “Permission to dock, landing craft Juliet-Kilo. We’ll send a crew down to take the ship off your hands and get the Spirit.”

“Perfect, thank you.”

“Vrepitca.” The commander clicked off.

Krolia leaned back in the chair as the automatic guidance systems locked onto the ship and started the docking sequence. She took stock of the weapons on her: two Imperial guns, several grenades attached to various places on her belt, a knife and some extra ammo. It wasn’t much, but it was enough.

The landing craft jolted as it finished docking with the corvette. Krolia hid herself next to the ramp, just outside of the field of vision of anyone who walked through, and pushed the button to let them in. Two medics walked up the ramp carrying a box full of equipment. She let them get all the way into the main compartment before whipping the feet out from under one with her tail and punching the other in the head, knocking them unconscious. The box of equipment crashed to the deck and spilled everywhere with a loud crash. Thinking quickly, she lowered her voice a bit and growled “Hey down there, could you give us a hand with this?”

Just as expected, two troopers walked up the ramp. Before they could let out so much as a yelp, she knocked their heads together, dropping them to the ground. She dragged them further into the ship, before glancing over all the Imperials at her feet. None of them were very near her height. Sighing, she stripped pieces of armor off of them all until she had a full uniform that mostly fit. She hesitated after hiding all her weapons in various spots of the armor. The Paladin code demanded that she not kill if she could help it, but she couldn’t afford to leave any witnesses. She ended up tying them to the shuttle’s bulkheads where they likely couldn’t yell for help or untie themselves, and taped gauze over their mouths. It would have to do.

* * *

With the aid of her disguise Krolia moved down the corridors like she was supposed to be there. Internally, of course, she was on edge and buzzing with adrenaline. Every passing soldier’s movements were calculated and paths estimated. Every corridor was counted, every junction kept careful track of. The Zanrik hadn’t changed much in ten thousand years from the look of it, which meant that poking a couple buttons in the engine room would cripple the ship until she got what she wanted. And what she wanted was information and a hyperdrive capable ship, along with this ship never making it back to Zarkon’s command. After that she wanted to find the other Spirits, and pilots, and kill Zarkon in single combat for the honor of her house. But the immediate want was the most important because she had a limited time until the Imperials realized her initial deception and found the unconscious troopers.

Krolia saluted a trooper that was a higher rank than her uniform and turned down into a different corridor. This was would supposedly be less trafficked, allowing her to reach the engine room faster. Except she got caught up in a caravan heading towards the detention block. Fighting against the current added dobashes onto her time, dobashes which she definitely did not have. She guessed she had six dobashes left before the commander got suspicious at the fact that her landing craft had not left yet.

Of course the minute she rid herself of the group heading to the detention block alarms started blaring. “Intruder aboard the ship. The Blue Paladin is somewhere on the ship. Be warned, records indicate that she is a Galra of the Marmoran house, and thus is to be treated with extreme caution. She is heavily armed, likely with a weapon that can change range and type.”

“Quiznak,” Krolia muttered, and looked around. She hoped that her attempts to figure out who was suspicious of her didn’t come off as suspicious. There was one trooper in particular who seemed to be paying too much attention to her. She walked a little faster, and the trooper motioned to his buddies, who followed her. Gritting her teeth, she split into a side corridor and climbed the wall. Hanging off the ceiling with her feet braced against the pipes, she lay in wait.

“I’m telling you, she had something on her face and it didn't look like scars; I’m surprised that nobody pointed her out before,” one of the goons said as he passed under her.

 _Of course I forgot to cover the crest,_ Krolia sighed internally. She waited until the last one of the troopers was under her before dropping down on one’s shoulders, winding an arm around his neck and squeezing. She lashed out at the closest one, hitting him with the butt of her rifle. One of them grabbed at her, trying to get her off of the one she was sitting on, while one raised his rifle to shoot. She dropped the gun and grabbed a knife, which she threw into the gun, sending it sparking across the floor. She unwrapped her arm from around the one, who collapsed to the floor as she jumped off him and clawed at the one grabbing at her. He shifted his rifle to a bayonet as she did the same and swiped at his head. He ducked and charged at her; she was just a second too slow and the bayonet swiped a gash on her side. Hissing she stabbed the one in the arm and knocked his weapon out of his hand.

She heard a noise and ducked as the last trooper fired his rifle. Everything seemed to slow down as the shot went straight down the corridor and hit a sentry passing by. The sentry toppled over as if in slow-motion and Krolia watched in horror as its sparking remains hit the floor. Every Imperial in the vicinity turned at the sound, then turned to look at the corridor.

_“Shit.”_

Krolia lashed out at the soldier that had fired the shot, batting his rifle out of the way and bodily slamming him into the wall. But there were immediately ten more in the small corridor, charging with their bayonets. Krolia growled, ears flat under her helmet.

“Blue Paladin! Surrender now and give us the Spirit!”

Krolia considered the commander that spoke up from behind a row of sentries. She was in a bit of a situation here. Continuing fighting was not a viable option if she wanted to live; there were too many soldiers and she was basically right next to the armory if her memory served. One wrong move and she was dead. She was likely better off attempting to escape from the detention block and going from there. Growling in resignation, she raised her hands in the universal motion for surrender.

* * *

Krolia was stripped of her weapons and marched to the bridge, where the commander waited. He was small for a Galra, not as strong as the rest of them. She smirked. He would be easy to take down, if the need arose. She was being held in place by two Imperials, but strangely the cuffs were loose and the one on her right (who had put the cuffs on her in the first place) was only making a show of holding on to her arm. She glanced him over and noticed a familiar looking knife attached to his belt, just where she could easily reach. She narrowed her eyes. Galran records stated that Zarkon had wiped out the House of Marmora, so what was this one doing with a Marmorait knife?

Keeping an eye on the Marmorait Imperial, Krolia scanned the room. The bridge had only a few men on it and all the guards were sentries. Including the two holding her and the commander, there were ten people on the bridge. If she could find a way to not have anyone hit the alarm, she could easily take them all down, get all the info she needed, and bust her way out.

“Blue Paladin, how good to see you alive,” the commander started, turning around to face her. She didn’t dignify him with a response. “I assume you know why I have brought you here. I have a few questions for you before we get down to business. How have you survived all these years?”

She didn’t respond.

“Answer me or you die.”

“You’ll kill me anyway. What incentive do I have to answer your questions?”

The commander growled at her. “Pain.”

She shrugged. “I’m sure I’ve had worse than whatever you can do to me.”

The commander looked at the guard only making a show of holding her. “Why don't you extend that marking a little.”

Before he could do something Krolia twisted out of his grip and broke the loose connection of her bindings. She kicked the other guard and grabbed the Marmorait knife, then threw it at the commander. The commander toppled off his command post with a grunt, knife embedded in his heart. She punched the guard that had had the knife, sending him flying across the room towards two sentries, then dropped to a knee and picked up the one on the floor’s gun. The ship’s pilot moved to hit the alarm; she shot him. She ducked and rolled as the sentries in front and behind her shot, dodging them and grabbing the Marmorait knife out of the commander’s body. Curiously, the blade didn't extend in her hand but it did pulse with a glow of air quintessence. With a growl she sliced up and into the nearest sentry. The three on the lower deck were quickly taken out.

Krolia picked up a gun and moved to shoot the sentries on the other side of the room but was surprised to find them destroyed already. The guard she had thrown was where they had been standing, holding his hands up in a gesture of peace. “I do not mean you harm, Paladin.”

She stood on the command post, rifle raised and sword extended. “Who are you and why did you have a Marmorait knife?”

The guard lowered his hands. “I am Kair. I am a member of the Blade of Marmora. I have that knife as proof of my involvement with the resistance.”

Krolia growled at him. She wasn’t inclined to trust him, even if he had destroyed a few of the sentries. “Give me a reason to trust you.”

“I am capable of awakening that blade, just like you.”

“Show me,” she said, t tossing it at Kair. She wasn’t worried if he did turn on her, she had a rifle and quicker reflexes than he had, not to mention bits of her paladin armor underneath her disguise.

Kair caught the blade and settled it in his palm. Sure enough, the blade pulsed with purple-black quintessence. “Do you trust me now, Paladin? I want to see the Empire fall just as much was you do.”

“Fine. Get me all the information stored on this ship, then we’re moving it out of this system,” she said, moving to the command station. She locked all the hangar doors and airlocks, preventing any more ships from landing on Earth.

“What about the Water Spirit? It is not on the ship,” Kair wondered from behind her.

Krolia paused and stared out the window at Earth. “I am no longer the Blue Paladin.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You heard me. I am no longer suited to be Vosa’s Paladin. I have lost too much to still have the abilities she needs. Plus, a Galra Paladin of Voltron I feel would not be welcome considering the state of the universe.”

“What-but what about the Spirit? Are we just going to leave it here?”

“Yes. There is someone on that planet with the perfect quintessence match. Soon enough, he will find her.”

* * *

Krolia ended up piloting the Imperial ship into a different solar system, then crashing it on an inhabitable moon. She and Kair took a pod to the Marmoran headquarters. Kolivan was ecstatic, in his own way, to have not only the former Blue Paladin but the last surviving member of the House of Marmora on his side, and immediately put her to work. She spent the next twelve deca-phoebs working for the Blade of Marmora as a negotiator and contact point with several rebel groups, as well as their primary black market contact.

It was hard, but good work. The talent for negotiation she'd always had (when she wasn't pissed off) was put to good use. The hard part was more about hiding who she was. She quickly found that her distinctive Marmorait crest drew too many eyes on a first meeting. It wasn't like she could hide it somehow, though, so she had to learn how to pass it off as a scar. Culture shock from being displaced a few thousand years was surprisingly nonexistent. The people had changed, but not who they were. The Empire was still the same set of corrupted, power-hungry lowlifes Voltron had been fighting against during her time. The only difference was now they were in charge, and Voltron was struggling to exist. 

Krolia heard of Voltron’s return and Allura’s resurrection while barely half a phoeb into a long deep-cover mission (which her presence on was the result of a....small spat between her and Kolivan). She spent as much of her free time that wouldn't be suspicious learning all she could about them. They were five Humans from Earth. It was a little weird that Allura was not piloting one of them, her quintessence was a fairly good match for both Vosa and Sev, but she supposed that Allura was needed to pilot the castle. Krolia knew who the new Blue Paladin was, the vision of his ocean-blue quintessence still sharp in her mind. The Red Paladin seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite put a finger on it. None of the images she had seen showed his face, just his movements and armor. He was scarily good with a sword, like he'd grown up using it, and his fighting style almost seemed....Galran. Images of them all ran across news feeds and their feats whispered through bars and haunted tunnels. These Paladins were good.

The Red Paladin disappeared from most of the news feeds after a while, seemingly replaced with Allura. That in and of itself wasn’t curious, but she certainly wasn’t piloting Caran, so something else must have switched around. Krolia was concerned about what had happened to the Red Paladin that he had just completely disappeared.

About a phoeb after the Red Paladin disappeared, Krolia's comm-implant started softly winking in the dark. She sat up in bed and looked around. It was her private room as the base's senior commander, but that instinct had saved her many times. With a thought she activated it and a small hologram appeared over her left arm. She blinked in disbelief at it.

_Need you back at base asap. Extraction planned in two quintants._

She sent an acknowledgement and settled in to sleep when her comm blinked again. That didn't usually happen. Krolia opened it up and did a double take at the beginning of the new message.

_You were right._

It had to be Kolivan sending these, which never happened. He was always busy, had to be even more so with Voltron having reappeared. Yet he was personally sending her an extraction message? What was going on here? She read the rest of the message.

_I need your help fixing it. I also have a surprise for you. Zodsae ka nel._

_What the_ hell _do you mean by surprise._

_I believe it is best if I tell you in person._

Frustrated, she flopped backwards onto her bed.  _Fine, kaalka. But this had better be good._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehe Krolia is piiiiiiiiised at Kolivan for making Keith do the trials (although she knows why they were necessary, she had to do them too. Wait why the fuck didn't I write that. WElp that's going on the list). And now she's off to find her son. Her meeting Keith is gonna be a different fic cause while i LOVE the episode in canon I am a sucker for Galra!Keith and DRAMA


End file.
